Last night, we began the week with a 2-0 night, cashing on Brandon Miller’s and Jonathan Kuminga’s points overs. We also cashed a +380 on Miller for 30 points.
The young forwards came through and we will look to continue that momentum. Tonight, I am eying player props for Tyrese Haliburton and Devin Booker. Both games have totals in the neighborhood of 240 and above. There is a good chance the stars will contribute to the scoring.
Let’s begin in Indiana.
Tyrese Haliburton has been the league's leader in assists for much of this season. There are some nights when his assists line is at 13.5 or higher. Haliburton has been recovering from a hamstring injury and he has been on a minutes restriction. His assists average is down to 11.8 per game and his lead over Trae Young is dwindling. However, he has still been scoring.
Haliburton scored 21 points against the Trail Blazers when he returned to the lineup on January 19th. Then, he missed five more games before returning to the lineup against Boston last Tuesday. Since then, he has scored 14 points in three of his last four games and scored 13 in the other. He has hit this line in seven of his last 10 games while averaging 17.1 points per game in that span.
Haliburton is questionable for tonight's game, but he was questionable for the past four games as well. He has been playing about 22 minutes a night. He has been attempting 11 field goals per game over his past four. For the season, he is attempting 16 per game in 32 minutes per game. My personal theory on his newfound aggressiveness is that he knows that he will not be playing the entire game, so he is getting up many shots as he can in the flow of Indiana's offense.
However, Haliburton has been knocking them down as well. In his past three games, he has made 18 of his 28 field goal attempts (64.3%). Half of those attempts have been 3s and he has made six of them.
Haliburton likely will not play more than 22 minutes again tonight, but he continues to create quality looks for himself and his teammates. If he continues to stay aggressiveness, he will likely score 14 points again tonight.
We backed Devin Booker's points on Friday in Atlanta and it was trending well as he had 24 points in the third quarter. However, that is what he finished with as he did not attempt a shot in fourth quarter. Now, he has not scored 29 points in his past four games, but two of them were return games for Kevin Durant (against the Nets and in his hometown) and Bradley Beal (against the Wizards).
However, it is hard to not back Booker given his matchup against the Bucks tonight. Scoring guards have torched the Bucks all season as they are allowing the fourth-most points to both point guards and shooting guards. Of course, the Bucks have a new voice with Doc Rivers as the team's new head coach. However, thus far, Rivers has not fixed the team's defensives struggles.
Since his hiring, the Bucks have allowed 35 points to Jamal Murray, 24 to Anfernee Simons, and 40 to Luka Doncic. Granted, those are three of the league's most lethal scorers but Booker is in that category as well. Booker should feast on the Bucks' drop coverage. He will have opportunities to attack in the midrange and from distance.
Booker has made three 3s in five of his last 10 games, including three games with six. When he is getting downhill, he is often to get to the foul line as well. He is attempting nearly seven free throws per game and making 87.9% of them. As an added bonus, Booker will also be playing the team he lost to in the 2021 NBA Finals. He scored 30 points in the last meeting against the Bucks last March.
Durant, Beal, and Booker have traded off big scoring nights of late. If tonight is Booker's turn again, I also like him to score 35 points at +250 and 40 points at +650 on FanDuel.
